Canada's oil patch is quietly sending large new volumes of oil on rail cars, even as it fights to overcome mounting opposition to plans for new pipelines to the U.S. Gulf Coast and Canada's West Coast.

Despite Middle Eastern carriers recording a 16-percent, year-over-year, increase in freight demand in July, global cargo markets shrunk 3.2 percent, year-over-year, according to International Air Transport Association statistics. IATA partially attributed this decline to a comparison with a "relatively strong" July 2011, but said global trade growth is still sluggish.

Trade using surface transportation between the United States and its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, Canada and Mexico, was 6.6 percent higher in June 2012 than in June 2011, totaling $82.6bn, unadjusted for inflation, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Canada-U.S. border maintenance costs Canadian governments and taxpayers up to $19.1bn annually, according to a report from the Fraser Institute, a Canadian public policy think-tank.

U.S. Xpress Enterprises has joined with Maritime-Ontario Freight Lines Ltd. to launch a North American cross-border shipping service.

Carriers shipping cargo through Canadian and Mexican ports do not violate any U.S. law, treaty, agreement or Federal Maritime Commission regulation, according to an FMC study prompted by members of Congress.

The North American Emission Control Area (ECA), under the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), went into effective Aug. 1, 2012, bringing stricter controls on emissions of sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter for ships trading off the coasts of Canada, the United States and the French overseas collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.

The cost of ground transportation for Canadian shippers decreased 0.29 percent in May when compared with April, according to results published today by the Canadian General Freight Index (CGFI).

The Association of American Railroads reported U.S. rail carloads originated in June 2012 totaled 1,140,271, down 1.3 percent compared with June 2011. Intermodal volume in June 2012 totaled 996,022 containers and trailers, up 49,168 units or 5.2 percent compared with June 2011. The June 2012 average weekly intermodal volume of 249,006 units is the highest average for any June on record and the third-highest for any month, behind August and October 2006.

Kuehne + Nagel has agreed to take over the business of Perishables International Transportation Inc. of Vancouver, Canada, another step in implementing the Swiss company's strategy to expand its activities in the field of perishables logistics globally.